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What good is data-driven policy research if it lives in a three-ring binder on a shelf? If it’s so text-heavy that the people who need to hear about it just can’t get around to reading it? This is the problem Assistant Professor Fernando Burga is trying to solve in his Land Use Planning class. Partnering with the Resilient Communities Project, Burga’s students are learning how to develop land use solutions in suburban areas and developing data visualization (and some deep Adobe Creative Suite) techniques to show real policy solutions.

It’s not uncommon for new mothers to experience worry, fatigue, and sadness for a few weeks after giving birth, what’s often called the baby blues. But up to 15 percent of new moms will develop postpartum depression, a mood disorder characterized by more extreme feelings of anxiety and unhappiness. Left untreated, postpartum depression can prove unhealthy or even dangerous for a mother as well as her new baby.

MINNEAPOLIS / ST. PAUL - Join the University of Minnesota College of Science and Engineering (CSE) for a dazzling light show designed by science and engineering students. The high-tech light show features more than 250,000 LED lights set to music, some of which is written and recorded by University of Minnesota students. This year’s show features new light installations and new music. The CSE Winter Light Show event is on the Civil Engineering Building Plaza, 500 Pillsbury Dr. S.E., Minneapolis. Each show will last about 20 minutes.

Next time you hoist a locally made craft beer, consider making a toast to the University of Minnesota's College of Food, Agricultural and Natural Resource Sciences (CFANS), for without the college’s research and outreach efforts, you might be drinking a less flavorful, mass-produced beverage.

Oak wilt fungus is another invasive plant pathogen that often goes unnoticed, until it’s too late. Not anymore. New technology developed by University of Minnesota College of Food, Agricultural and Natural Resource Sciences (CFANS) researcher Abdennour Abbas and his team offers a simple, affordable diagnostic test utilizing nanotechnology and gold. Abbas is an assistant professor of Bioproducts and Biosystems Engineering.